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← Collationes (Conferences / Collations)/Book 3 · Collationes — Liber III
Chapter 38OdoC.3.38

Caput XXXVII

The Unfathomable Depths of God's Judgments and Mercies

God's judgments and mercies are an immeasurable abyss that no creature can fully penetrate, and the faithful must accept suffering with humble silence rather than grumble against divine justice.

But neither the depth of God's judgments nor the depth of his mercies can be fully fathomed. "The judgments of the Lord," he says, "are a great abyss" (Ps.✦ 15:7); and likewise: "Who understands the mercies of the Lord?"✦ (Ps. 106:43.) Still, it is necessary to understand this — because what we suffer is just — so that amid whatever hardships we face, we do not grumble, but say: "You are righteous, Lord, and your judgment is right" (Ps. 118:137). And likewise what another prophet says: "I will endure the Lord's rebuke, because I have sinned" (Mic.✦

The Justice of God and the Example of Job

Because God's judgment is always just, the afflicted have no grounds to complain; even Job, praised by God himself, acknowledged that much in him still required correction and that God could justly increase his torment.

VII, 9).✦ Let us also understand that, according to the word of Job, the one who has been afflicted will be in glory (Job 22:29).✦ And let us say: It is good for me that you have humbled me (Ps. CXVIII, 71). For if we take the fairness of God's judgment into account, our grumbling will stop — because it is deeply unjust for the accused to bring charges against the judge, since the accused has received exactly what their deeds deserved.1 For we — as the blessed Job is reproached — are exacted of far less than our iniquity deserves.2 And Job himself, although he has been praised beyond all comparison by the mouth of the Judge, confesses about himself, saying: When he has accomplished his purpose in me, there are still many other things in store for him to address in me (Job 23:14).✦3 And if he were to say: Even after all his possessions and his sons were taken away, even after his flesh was consumed by worms and he was brought low to the dunghill, his gaze still finds in me many things in need of correction — for which, if he chose not to spare me, he could justly increase my torment.4

Mercy Hidden in Tribulation: The Surgeon's Cutting

God's mercy uses temporal affliction to shield the guilty from eternal punishment, and the patient who endures the surgeon's knife with trust hopes for healing through the very pain that cuts away corruption.

After he had patiently endured such great and terrible things — things that every age stands astonished at — he did not boast about his victory at all, but said: "I blame myself, and I repent" (Job 42:6).✦ But if we also weigh the mercy by which the kindly Judge, through temporal tribulations, shields his own accused ones from eternal punishment, we will not think ourselves abandoned — as some are accustomed to do, blessing God indeed in prosperous times, according to that word: "He will praise you when you do good to him" (Ps. 48:19 [Vulgate]). …but in adversity falling away, according to that word: "In miseries they do not endure" (Ps. 139:11 [Vulgate]). Psalm 139:11). And: "Woe to those who have lost endurance" (Sir. 2:16). Sir. 2:16). But we will love the Judge all the more, who for this very reason scourges his own guilty ones with transitory punishment, as with rods, so that he may absolve them from gehenna or from the gallows. For as was said above, the more patiently a sick person endures the surgeon's instrument, the more putrid the thing he sees being cut away — and the more healing he hopes to gain through that very cutting.

The Inner Physician and the Creature's Silence

God is the inner physician who cuts away the deep-rooted infection of sin through tribulation; since a creature drawn from the dust cannot examine the Creator's judgments, the Apostle's rebuke — 'O man, who are you to answer God?' — seals the call to silence.

God is truly the inner physician, and he cuts away from us the infections of our sins — infections that, because they are rooted deep within, he condemns. He has cut away the poison of decay with the iron of tribulation, and the more he seems not to hear the cries of the sick person, the more he brings about the end of the illness.5 That a creature ought not — and cannot — examine the judgment of the Creator, the Apostle shows, who, when he was speaking of the depth of the divine judgments, said: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, etc.✦6 He added: O man, who are you to answer God?✦7 (Rom. XI, 33.) A human being, after all, is named from the ground.8 That one who is called a human being cannot answer God is thereby proven, because inasmuch as he was taken from the ground, he is not fit to examine the judgments of heaven.9

Humble Submission Under the Weight of Heavenly Counsel

Since we cannot investigate God's inscrutable counsels, we must remain silent under His dispositions in humble obedience, and by submitting the heart we lighten the very burdens we are called to bear.

Because, then, we are not sufficient to investigate these things, it remains that we should be silent under God's dispositions in humility, lest perhaps, if the cause of his severity is debated, it may be provoked all the more by being examined further. For the force of heavenly counsel can by no means be avoided, but one who restrains himself under God's commands lightens its burdens for himself by great strength, and willingly carries these things on the shoulder of a submitted heart.

Read the original Latin

At vero neque judiciorum, neque misericordiarum profunditas ad liquidum penetrari potest. Judicia, inquit, Domini abyssus multa (Psal. XV, 7); et item: Quis intelligit misericordias Domini? (Psal. CVI, 43.) Attamen intelligere necesse est, quia justum est quod patimur, ut inter quaslibet angustias non murmuremus, sed dicamus: Justus es, Domine, et rectum judicium tuum (Psal. CXVIII, 137). Et item quod alius propheta dicit: Increpationem Domini sustinebo quia peccavi (Mich.

VII, 9). Intelligamus quoque quia, juxta illud Job, qui afflictus fuerit, erit in gloria (Job XXII, 29). Et dicamus: Bonum mihi quia humiliasti me (Psal. CXVIII, 71). Nam si aequitas judicii consideretur, murmuratio cessabit, quia valde injustum est, ut reus judicem incuset, cum digna factis aeque receperit. Nos enim, ut beato Job improbatur, multum minima exigimur quam meretur iniquitas nostra. Quod et ipse, quamvis ore judicis incomparabiliter laudatus sit, de se fatetur, dicens: Cum expleverit in me voluntatem suam, adhuc multa alia praesto sunt ei (Job XXIII, 14). Ac si diceret: Cum sublatis omnibus tam rebus quam filiis, cum et consumpta vermibus carne, me usque ad sterquilinium humiliaverit, adhuc multa in me corrigenda visus ejus deprehendit, pro quibus si parcere nollet, juste tormentum exaggerare posset.

Qui etiam postquam tanta ac talia patienter pertulit, quae omnia saecula stupescunt, nequaquam de victoria gloriatur, sed dicit: Ipse me reprehendo, et ago poenitentiam (Job XLII, 6). Si autem misericordia quoque perpendatur, qua benignus judex per temporales augustias reos suos ab aeterno verbere abscondit, non putabimus nos derelictos, ut quidam facere solent, in prosperis quidem Deum benedicentes, juxta illud: Confitebitur tibi cum benefeceris ei (Psal. XLVIII, 19); sed in adversis deficientes juxta illud: In miseriis non sustinent (Psal. CXXXIX, 11). Et: Vae his qui perdiderunt sustinentiam (Eccli. II, 16). Sed magis amabimus judicem, qui idcirco reos suos transitoria poena quasi virgis flagellat, ut eos a gehenna vel a suspendio furcarum absolvat. Ut enim supradictum est, tanto patientius aeger ferramentum medici tolerat, quanto putridum esse conspicit quod secat, et quantum per ipsam sectionem salutis medelam sperat.

Deus quippe internus est medicus, et peccatorum a nobis contagia secat, quae inesse medullitus reprobat. Abscidit virus putredinis ferro tribulationis, et quo voces aegri audire dissimulat, eo aegritudinis finem procurat. Quod autem creatura Creatoris judicium discutere nec debeat nec possit, Apostolus ostendit, qui cum de profunditate divinorum judiciorum diceret: O altitudo divitiarum sapientiae et scientiae Dei, etc. , addidit: O homo, tu quis es, qui respondeas Deo? (Rom. XI, 33.) Homo quippe ab humo vocatur. Respondere ergo Deo non posse convincitur qui homo nominatur, quia per hoc quod de humo sumptus est, superna judicia discutere idoneus non est.

Quia igitur haec investigare non sufficimus, restat ut sub ejus dispositionibus humiliter taceamus, ne forte si causa districtionis ejus discutiatur, amplius discussa provocetur. Vitari namque vis superni consilii nequaquam potest, sed ejus pondera sibi magna virtute levigat, qui se sub ejus nutibus frenat, et haec subjecto cordis humero volens portat.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Ps.35.7 — For without cause they have hidden for me the pit of their net; without cause they have dug a pit for my life.
  2. ↩Ps.106.43 — Many times he delivered them, but they rebelled in their counsel and sank low in their iniquity.
  3. ↩Mic.7.9 — I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes justice for me. He will bring me out to the light; I will see his righteousness.
  4. ↩Ps.7.9 — May the LORD judge the peoples; vindicate me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and my integrity be upon me.
  5. ↩Job.22.29 — When people are brought low, you say, 'Lift them up!' And the downcast-eyed he saves.
  6. ↩Job.23.14 — For he will complete what is appointed for me, and many such things are with him.
  7. ↩Job.42.6 — Therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.
  8. ↩Rom.11.33 — Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and how inscrutable his ways!
  9. ↩Rom.9.20 — But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Will what is molded say to its maker, 'Why did you make me like this'?

Notes

  1. 1 ↩aequitas judicii rendered as 'fairness of God's judgment' to capture both the equity and the just standard of divine judgment.
  2. 2 ↩exigimur rendered as 'are exacted of' to preserve the sense of being held to account; multum minima quam = 'far less than.'
  3. 3 ↩ore judicis incomparabiliter laudatus sit: Job is praised by God's own testimony (cf. Job 1–2), yet still acknowledges further correction is warranted. voluntatem suam rendered as 'his purpose' to capture God's sovereign will.
  4. 4 ↩sterquilinium rendered as 'dunghill' to preserve the stark, concrete image of Job's degradation. corrigenda rendered as 'in need of correction' to capture the gerundive force. The sentence is a hypothetical expansion of Job's self-knowledge, not a direct quotation.
  5. 5 ↩The correlative quo…eo construction is rendered as 'the more…the more.' The paradox — God seeming not to hear yet thereby healing — is preserved from the Latin.
  6. 6 ↩Quotation from Romans 11:33 (Vulgate). The 'etc.' in the source indicates the quotation is truncated.
  7. 7 ↩Quotation from Romans 9:20 (Vulgate): 'O homo, tu quis es, qui respondeas Deo?'
  8. 8 ↩Etymological play on homo/humus (human/ground) preserved. The point is that our earthly origin disqualifies us from judging heavenly things.
  9. 9 ↩The argument rests on the homo/humus wordplay: our earthly origin renders us incompetent to scrutinize divine judgments.

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